Overview: If Louisville and Syracuse are the obvious favorites for the Big East title, consider these two (and Pittsburgh) among the best challengers.

This game doesn’t eliminate the Golden Eagles from consideration but does put a little more shine to the Hoyas’ resume. Georgetown now has won six in a row and eight of their last nine. While they aren’t going to win the aesthetic vote, they are winning games.

Turning point: To the delight of the Verizon Center crowd, Buzz Williams was cited for a technical foul midway through the second half. The crowd had been on the Marquette coach the entire game for his disinterest in staying in the coach’s box. The T was for arguing an out of bounds call, not for his propensity for wandering, but the effect was bad nonetheless. At the time, the Golden Eagles trailed by just three. But Otto Porter hit the free throws and scored on the next possession. Marquette could never get quite as close again.

Key player: Porter. With a little more fanfare and a team that didn’t have some inexplicably bad nights, Porter might just be the leading candidate for Big East player of the year instead of merely in the mix. He’s that good. He’s just sort of unassuming about it. Not in this game. Easily the best player of the match, Porter eventually took over, finishing with 21 points and seven rebounds.

Key stat: Marquette finished with 19 turnovers and just 20 made field goals. Even those not good at math know that won’t add up to many victories.

Miscellaneous: The two teams combined for 20 turnovers and 20 made field goals in the first half. Yes, not pretty. … Jack the Bulldog, the Hoyas’ mascot, apparently wasn’t amused by this game, either. He barked through much of the second half.

Next game: The Golden Eagles host a hot Pittsburgh team (the Panthers have won three in a row) on Saturday while the Hoyas go to a struggling Cincinnati team (the Bearcats have lost two in a row).